Excerpt Monday August

Elise and I fought long and hard over who would win the opportunity to share an excerpt this month. She’s mostly bald now and I’m missing a finger, but I won!

From All the Trees in Pearl, available at Ellora’s Cave:

Margaret touched the clean cloth to her face, held it there. Rivulets of water slid down the column of her throat and trickled between her breasts, down the plane of her stomach. She shivered despite the warmth of the room and reluctantly drew the cloth over her shoulders and down each arm, wiping away as much dust as she could. She bent to swipe the cloth down her legs, around each foot, and froze.

“When did you come in?” she asked evenly, surprised that the question came out minus any of the panic that held her paralyzed in the awkward, exposing pose.

Her new husband didn’t answer. He dropped a pair of saddle bags on the floor in front of the door, turned the key in the lock and came to her. She started to straighten, but his hand on her nape held her in place. He plucked the drying cloth from her unresponsive fingers, swished it in the basin and squeezed cool water between her shoulder blades. Beads rolled into her armpits, down the sides of her breasts, into the hollow of her back.

She drew a deep breath and flattened her hands on the seat of the chair. “I don’t think—”

“Shhh. Keep it that way.” The low, rough pitch of his voice struck her somewhere deep. He pulled her hair away from her neck and drew the cloth from her hairline down to the swell of her buttocks. “James wouldn’t have known what to do with you.”

Ethan reached between her thighs and washed the inside of each one in turn. To her mixed relief and dismay, he avoided her most intimate place. Mention of his brother should have instilled some measure of shame, but the soft scrape of cotton eroded her good manners.

“You’ve been married before.” He passed the scented square around her hips and across her belly. His gaze made her skin burn and tingle.

“How did you know?” she whispered.

“You don’t respond like a virgin. And James left me a letter in that safe box of his.”

“What did it say?”

Ethan ignored the question. He straightened behind her and tossed the washcloth into the basin. His hands, big and damp, cupped her shoulders and drew her upright. Margaret closed her eyes against the brief dizziness that came first with blood rushing to her head and second with the hot, open kiss Ethan pressed into the curve of her throat.

“Does it matter to you?” he asked against her skin.

“What he said?”

“Whether it’s me or him.”

Margaret bit her lip, unsure how she should answer that question. Would he think her a whore if she confessed that in some ways the man didn’t matter as much as the security of home?

-

More, you say? Buy All the Trees in Pearl here.

And for more free stuff…

Mel/Alexia Reed, Urban Fantasy (R)

and

Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG)

Joining us this week:

AJ O’Donovan, Poetry (PG13)

Stephanie Draven, Paranormal Romance (PG 13)

Heather S.Ingemar, Dark Fantasy/Poetry (PG13)

Babette James, Fantasy Romance (PG 13)

Cynthia Justlin, Romantic Suspense (PG 13)

Kaige, Historical Romance (PG 13)

Julia Knight, Fantasy Romance (PG13)

Ansha Kotyk, Middle Grade Adventure (PG13)

Adelle Laudan, Contemporary Romance (PG 13)

Jeannie Lin, Historical Romance (PG 13)

RF Long, YA Paranormal (PG13)

Caitlynn Lowe, Epic Fantasy (PG13)

Shawntelle Madison, Paranormal Romance (PG 13)

Crista McHugh, Contemporary Erotic Romance (PG 13)

Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG)

Leigh Royals, Historical Romance (PG 13)

Megan S., Paranormal (PG13)

Dara Sorensen, Historical Paranormal (PG 13)

Bethanne Strasser, Historical Romance (PG13)

Melissa Aires, Futuristic Romance (R)

Melissa Blue, Contemporary Romance (R)

Jax Cassidy, Contemporary (R)

Christina DeLorenzo, Furturistic Sci-Fi (R)

Maya Doyle, Parnormal Romance (R)

Ginny Glass, Paranormal (R)

Amber Green, Romantic Suspense (R)

Cate Hart, Paranormal YA (R)

Kinsey W. Holley, Erotic Romance (R)

Ali Katz, Erotic Paranormal Romance (R)

Aislinn Kerry, Fantasy (R)

Inez Kelly, Fantasy Romance (R)

Cherrie Lynn, Contemporary Erotic Romance (R)

Mel/Alexia Reed, Urban Fantasy (R)

Rebecca Savage, Romantic Suspense (R)

Fae Sutherland, Contemporary Erotic Romance (R)

Stephanie Adkins, Paranormal Erotic Romance (NC 17)

Evie Byrne, Erotic Historical Romance (NC17)

Ella Drake, Erotic Contemporary (NC17)

Dawn Montgomery, Erotic Paranormal Romance (NC17)

Lauren Murphy, Erotic Romance (NC 17)

Kim Knox, Erotic Paranormal Romance (NC17)

Emily Ryan-Davis, Historical Western Romance (NC17)

Kirsten Saell, Erotic Fantasy Romance (NC 17)

Jeanne St. James, Contemporary Romance (NC 17)